ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Healthcare interoperability is alive and well across the United States,
according to the Surescripts
2017 National Progress Report, which reveals that 13.7 billion
secure health data transactions traversed the nation’s largest health
information network last year—a 26 percent increase over 2016. Having
evolved its capabilities far beyond electronic prescribing, the
Surescripts Network Alliance™ expanded to include 1.47 million
healthcare professionals who have the ability to access health data for
233 million patients, or 71 percent of the U.S. population.

“The Surescripts Network Alliance continued to make remarkable progress
in 2017, signaling that healthcare interoperability is indeed happening
today,” said Tom Skelton, Chief Executive Officer of Surescripts. “Over
the last decade, E-Prescribing has matured and scaled. Now, newer
functionality like Record Locator & Exchange and Real-Time Prescription
Benefit are ramping up at an impressive rate. And we’re measuring, at
scale, the accuracy of this massive transaction volume—a capability with
the potential to truly redefine and elevate the state of U.S.
healthcare.”

Major Progress Toward Perfecting E-Prescribing

In 2017, the Surescripts Critical Performance Improvement program
continued to work across the Surescripts Network Alliance to drive
broader adoption of e-prescribing and better prescription data quality
for the benefit of every pharmacist, prescriber and patient. In 2017,
Surescripts Sentinel™ measured a 26 percent increase in prescription
accuracy network-wide. With 77 percent of all prescriptions delivered
electronically, these quality improvements are having a direct and
immediate impact on patient safety. At the same time, the volume of
e-prescriptions for controlled substances increased 71 percent over 2016
as more prescribers adopted the technology.

Last year, Surescripts introduced a solution to help transform the
prescription decision process between prescribers and their patients.
When used together, Real-Time
Prescription Benefit, Prior
Authorization and E-Prescribing
deliver patient-specific drug benefit and cost information—including
therapeutic alternatives and their costs—within the e-prescribing
workflow at the point of care. In 2017, Electronic Prior Authorization
transactions increased 350 percent, with more than 100,000 prescribers
enabled nationwide. In addition, Surescripts processed more than 3
million Real-Time Prescription Benefit transactions.

Bringing Technology to the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic

In response to a national health emergency, Surescripts continued taking
action to prevent opioid fraud and abuse through a combination of
technology, education and public policy. In 2017, the number of
prescribers enabled for Electronic
Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) increased 59 percent.
In New York, three-quarters of all prescribers were enabled for EPCS at
the end of the year, following the enactment of legislation mandating
the use of the technology. Meanwhile, Surescripts delivered 1.46 billion
patient medication
histories nationwide, helping healthcare professionals make more
informed care decisions for their patients.

Nationwide Interoperability Surges On

The Surescripts Network Alliance successfully partnered across the
healthcare marketplace to push industrywide interoperability to the next
level. In 2017, an
increasing number of providers across the country chose Record
Locator & Exchange to obtain a more complete view of patient
history directly in their EHR workflow. In fact, more than 50,000
clinicians used the solution to access and exchange an annualized total
of 16 million clinical documents and 65 million documents summarizing
where a patient previously received care. And healthcare professionals
across the country sent nearly 26 million clinical direct messages—a 32
percent increase over 2016—enabling more informed care decisions for
clinicians and pharmacists alike.

Our purpose is to serve the nation with the single most trusted and
capable health information network, built to increase patient safety,
lower costs and ensure quality care. Since 2001, Surescripts has led the
movement to turn data into actionable intelligence and convened the
Surescripts Network Alliance™ to enhance prescribing, inform care
decisions and advance the healthcare industry. Visit us at surescripts.com
and follow us at twitter.com/surescripts.